MULTIPLE PACKAGING FOR BOTTLES AND ASSOCIATED MANUFACTURING

Abstract: Multiple packaging for bottles (1) consisting of a film (2) of heat-shrinkable plastic hot-applied to a plurality of bottles arranged alongside one another in parallel rows and comprising a series of incisions (3) in the regions of the planes separating adjacent rows of bottles. The packaging allows single rows of bottles to be detached, the latter being kept integral by the torn portion of packaging. A preferred method for manufacturing the packaging is described, based on a film of heat-shrinkable plastic provided with incisions.

Description: Multiple packaging for bottles and associated manufacturing. * * * * The present invention relates to an improved multiple packaging for bottles, of the type consisting of a film of heat-shrinkable plastic applied to a plurality of bottles arranged alongside one another in parallel rows, and provided with gripping means to facilitate transportation thereof. The type of packaging described above has rapidly become widespread, in particular in the mineral water and soft drinks distribution sector, on account of its considerable advantages compared to coventional bottle-carrying cases, such as low cost, negligible dimensions, easier transportability owing to its low weight and in particular elimination of the need to return empty cases to the manufacturer. In its application which today is more or less universally adopted, this packaging comprises a set of six bottles arranged alongside one another in three rows of two's. This number of bottles is in fact the result of a compromise between the manufacturer's packaging and transportation requirements and the need of the retailer and end user for easy handling and transportation. However, the widespread use of this type of packaging during recent years has also revealed its limitations; limitations which are closely linked to the overall weight of the packaged product which, in the usual case of 1.5-litre bottles, can be as much as 10 kg. The weight of this packaging in fact, while being decidedly less than that of conventional cases, is the cause, as we shall see, of the failure of the packaging itself to become further widespread. While this weight does not pose any problem for those consumers who travel to the retail outlet in their own vehicle, this is not the case for those consumers who perform their purchases on foot, as is now increasingly the case with those shopping centres which are situated in central urban areas, where the lack of parking space and heavy traffic tend to discourage people from using their cars. In such circumstances, in fact, the consumer is obliged to limit the weight of his/her purchases so as to be able to carry them without excessive effort, if necessary being able to repeat the purchases with greater frequency over time. At the present time, if the consumer wishes to purchase a smaller number of bottles than the six contained in the conventional packaging, he/she must open up the packaging of heat-shrinkable material and remove from it the number of bottles required; this operation, however, itself involves several drawbacks. First of all, it is fairly difficult to perform if one does not have a cutting implement and in any case requires one to have both hands free and also takes a certain amount of time; it has in fact been possible to establish that if the consumer is in a hurry or is already carrying something in one hand or does not have a suitable implement, often he/she tends to forego making the purchase. Secondarily, the bottles removed from the packaging are not easy to carry since they obviously do not have any easy gripping means, unlike the packaging which, as is well known, is provided with a central carrying handle. Finally, the packaging torn open by consumers is left untidily on the sales shelf, making a negative and unaesthetic impression, and frequently must be removed by a shop assistant. The aim of the present invention is therefore that of supplying an improved packaging of the type described above, as a result of which the consumer is able to remove easily and rapidly a smaller number of bottles than that contained in the entire package, without the need for special implements, without foregoing ease of transportation of the said bottles and without leaving any residual packaging on the shop shelf. A further . aim of the present invention is that of providing a method for manufacturing the improved packaging described above which is particularly simple, i.e. a method which can also be adopted in the already existing plants for producing multiple packaging for bottles, without having to make any modifications to the plants themselves. This object is achieved according to the present invention, with a multiple packaging for bottles of the type consisting of a film of heat-shrinkable plastic applied to a plurality of bottles arranged alongside one another in parallel rows, characterized in that, in the region of the planes separating adjacent rows of bottles, said film has a series of aligned incisions designed to form a predetermined line for detaching each row of bottles from the adjacent rows. According to a preferred characteristic feature of the invention, this packaging is obtained with a production method of the known type, comprising the stages of: forming a compact group of bottles of the desired number and arrangement; wrapping said group of bottles with a length of heat-shrinkable film so as to cause overlapping of the free strips of film on the bottom of the group of bottles; subjecting the pack of bottles thus formed to heat so as to obtain heat-moulding of the film and formation of the packaging, characterized in that said heat-shrinkable film for wrapping the group of bottles is provided with incisions along parallel lines corresponding, in the packaging formed, to the zones separating adjacent rows of bottles. The invention, however, will now be described in detail, with reference to a packaging for six bottles arranged in three rows, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a front view of a packaging for six bottles according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the packaging according to Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view, similar to that of Figure l, showing the stage of separation of one row of bottles from the adjacent row; Fig. 4 is a schematic plan view illustrating a film of heat-shrinkable plastic which can be used in the packaging production process according to the present invention; and Fig. 5 is a plan view from the bottom illustrating schematically the arrangement of said film in the already formed packaging. As clearly shown in the drawings, the improved packaging according to the invention envisages, in the entirely conventional manner, that the bottles 1 arranged alongside one another in parallel rows are held in position by a film 2 of heat-shrinkable plastic hot-applied onto the said bottles. In the region of the ideal planes which separate the adjacent rows of bottles, the film 2 has in addition a series of aligned incisions 3 which extend over the entire perimeter of the packaging, namely along the four sides of the latter. In a first embodiment of the invention, the length and the spacing of the incisions 3 are uniform on all sides of the packaging. In another embodiment, the top part of the packaging has incisions which are longer or closer together so as to facilitate the operation of initial separation of the row of bottles, as explained more clearly below. In a third embodiment the bottom part of the packaging, which forms the resting surface thereof and which is therefore subject to greater stress, has varied incisions so as to take account, on the one hand, of this greater stress and, on the other hand, the greater intrinsic strength of the packaging in this part, as a result of folding over of the strips of plastic film. Overall the surface with the incisions constitutes at least 30% and preferably at least 50% of the perimeter of the packaging in the zone considered. In any case it is preferable, for the sake of solidity of the packaging, that no incision should be made in the angular zones of the packaging itself. With the packaging according to the present invention, therefore, it becomes extremely easy for the consumer to remove a smaller number than the six bottles which are in the full package. He/she in fact merely needs to insert his/her hand inside the package in the region of the plane separating two adjacent rows of bottles, as illustrated in Fig. 1 and in the direction of the arrow F of said figure. This operation is made particularly easy by the presence of the incisions 3 which direct and favour correct and rapid tearing of the film 2. Once the user's hand is inserted inside the package, a lateral pulling action in the direction of the arrow G of Fig. 1 enables a row of bottles to be completely separated, as illustrated in Fig. 3, precisely on account of the presence of the incisions 3 which suitably reduce the strength of the film 2 on all the sides of the packaging and direct separation along a predetermined line. It should be noted that the bottles thus separated are still perfectly integral with one another, owing to the presence of a portion of the film 2 which still adheres perfectly to them since tearing of the packaging has occurred along a regular predetermined line. In a simpler embodiment, the top part of the same film 2 acts as a handle for taking hold of the pair of bottles thus separated, while in a more elaborate embodiment the packaging may be provided with three gripping handles (not shown) , each being arranged opposite one row of two bottles, applied to the packaging in a manner entirely known per se. From the above it can be clearly understood how the packaging according to the present invention has fully achieved the preset aims. The consumer may in fact remove a smaller number of bottles - two or four in the embodiment illustrated in the drawings - with a manoeuvre which can be easily performed and immediately understood. In order to help the consumer perform the manoeuvre of inserting his/her hand into the correct zone, the zones of the film 2 with incisions may, for this purpose, be defined by coloured or otherwise highlighted bands. Separation of the bottles occurs, as seen, together with the relative portion of packaging, thus avoiding the abovementioned drawbacks associated with the presence of torn, empty or partially full packaging on the shop's shelves. Since the incisions 3 are provided in such a manner as not to affect in any way the integrity of the packaging during the normal handling operations which may be performed both by the sales staff and the buyers, the purchase of the full package may be effected without any drawbacks, exactly in the same way as for conventional packaged products. The packaging according to the present invention may be produced using any desired method. For example, the packaging may be produced using conventional techniques and, after heat- moulding of the film, the packaging may be conveyed to an incision station where the abovementioned incisions are performed using mechanical or thermal means. It must be possible, however, to implement a preferred process, according to one of the aims of the invention, without having to alter the existing plants or integrate new and different equipment into them. This process, according to the present invention, is characterized in that, in an entirely conventional bottle- packaging production plant, use is made of a heat-shrinkable film provided with incisions along parallel lines corresponding, in the package formed, to the zones separating adjacent rows of bottles. Tests performed with this type of process have provided excellent results: the incisions performed in the film remain in fact substantially identical even after heat-moulding of the packaging and fully achieve the desired aim. However, it has been found that frequently, in the bottom zone of the packaging where two strips of film are positioned one on top of the other, the incision lines do not overlap exactly and therefore the effect of the incisions is lessened and the ease of complete separation of the rows of bottles is correspondingly diminished. According to a preferred version of the production process described above, the heat-shrinkable film is prepared instead so that one of the two strips intended to be superimposed in the bottom part is provided with normal incisions, while the other one is formed with wide eyelets instead of said incisions. Fig. 4 shows the plan view of a film 2 of this type, which has parallel rows of incisions 3 in the various zones of the film intended to cover the various sides of the package and wide eyelets in one of the two bottom strips. More precisely, the top zone 5, the side zones 6 and a first strip 7 intended to cover the bottom of the package have normal incisions 3, as described above. The other strip 8, which closes off the bottom of the package, being positioned on top of the strip 7, has instead two wide eyelets 9 which extend over practically the entire width of the strip 8 itself. During closure of the packaging, the eyelets 9 always overlap - even if the film is not perfectly centered - the incisions 3 of the strip 7, which are therefore able to perform fully their separating function (see illustration in Fig. 5) . During manufacture of this pre-cut film it is obviously possible to vary the shape and dimensions of the incisions on the side strips 6 and top strip 5 as well, as already described above. When performing the production process it will obviously be necessary to ensure that entry of the pack of bottles into the film 2 is properly synchronised; this problem, however, has already been resolved in the art for some time, in order to obtain correct centering, on the pack of bottles, of films bearing advertising messages or descriptions of the contents of the bottles themselves. These solutions may therefore be applied without problems to the process according to the present invention as well. The other stages of the process for production of the multiple packaging for bottles, namely preparation of the group of bottles, wrapping of them with film and heat-moulding of the film over the group of bottles, are not described in detail since they are all well-known in the art of the sector, where they have been applied for many years. The present invention has been described with reference to a specific packaging embodiment, comprising six bottles, which is that most commonly found commercially; it is clear, however, that protection of the said invention extends to packages comprising any number of bottles. It is thus possible to envisage that adoption of the packaging according to the present invention will allow the manufacturer, the distributor and some types of consumer to use larger-size packages which, where necessary, can be reduced in size on the spot by the consumer to suit his/her requirements and carrying capability.

Claims: Claims 1. Multiple packaging for bottles of the type consisting of a film of heat-shrinkable plastic applied to a plurality of bottles arranged alongside one another in parallel rows, characterized in that, in the region of the planes separating adjacent rows of bottles, said film has a series of aligned incisions designed to form a predetermined line for detaching each row of bottles from the adjacent rows. 2. Packaging according to Claim 1, in which each row of bottles is provided with its own gripping handle. 3. Packaging according to Claim 1, in which said incisions have a uniform length and spacing on all sides of the packaging. 4. Packaging according to Claim l, in which said incisions have a greater length and/or smaller spacing on the top side of the packaging, compared to the two sides of the latter. 5. Packaging according to Claim 1, in which said incisions have a varied length and/or spacing on the bottom side of the packaging, compared to the two sides of the latter, according to the different intrinsic strength of the packaging on this side and greater stress to which said side is subjected. 6. Packaging according to Claims 3 to 5, in which said incisions extend overall at least 30% and preferably at least 50% of the perimeter of the packaging. 7. Packaging according to any one of the preceding claims, in which said incisions are not provided in the angular zones of the packaging. 8. Method for manufacturing a multiple packaging for bottles according to any one of Claims l to 7, of the type comprising the stages of: forming a compact group of bottles of the desired number and arrangement; wrapping said group of bottles with a section of heat-shrinkable film so that the free strips of the film are positioned one on top of the other on the bottom part of the group of bottles; subjecting to heat the pack of bottles thus formed so as to obtain heat-moulding of the film and formation of the packaging, characterized in that the film used for wrapping the group of bottles is provided with incisions along parallel lines, corresponding, in the package formed, to the zones separating adjacent rows of bottles. 9. Manufacturing method according to Claim 8, in which said film, in the region of one of the two strips intended to be superimposed, has instead of said incisions two wide eyelets which extend over practically the entire width of the strip.

Inventors: CRISTOFANI ALESSANDRO, CRISTOFANI, ALESSANDRO
Applicants: CRISTOFANI ALESSANDRO, CRISTOFANI, ALESSANDRO
Application year: 1994
Main classification: B65D71
IPC codes: B65D71